To save you from yourselves
by YaoiShipsFreack
Summary: During a simple mission Obito goes missing for three days but when he's found he appears to have more injuries than he should and a kitsune by the name of Nanami refuses to leave his side- no matter what. Kakashi goes to visit him as soon as he awakes but the doubts Inoichi gave him on the other teen's life aren't letting him sleep and the fox knows more than she should.
1. CHAPTER 1- A SHATTERED MIND

**_CHAPTER 1- A SHATTERED MIND_**

Team Seven wasn't having a good day, not at all and it went from bad to worse.

It started at exactly 9 am, when they had to meet for a mission outside the Village and, like usual, Obito was late. Until here all normal, after all the Uchiha was always late.

When all the members of Team Minato finally met, they briefly discussed the terms of the mission- apparently someone was spotted living in the forest outside the village and they had to find who it was and take said person to the Hogake for further research.

An easy mission...not exactly because they choose to go different ways to cover more areas and to keep in contact with a seal designed by not other than their Sensei, Minato Namikaze, and completely forgot how their raven haired team mate was awful with maps. Cue: he got lost and managed to lose the communication seal as well.

 _GREAT_.

Kakashi couldn't care less than this, Rin wasn't exactly worried- annoyed was a better term to define it- and Minato was experiencing what someone would call "the beauty of parenting", completely forgetting how the missing boy wasn't even slightly related to the jounin.

Adding this to the poor results their scouting gave and they all were a bundle of ready-to-snap nerves.

In the end they decided to call it a day, it was 7 pm and dinner awaited them at home with their respective families, and they all told themselves that even if Obito wasn't the best he still was capable enough to survive in the harmless forest that surrounded Konoha.

They would find him only three days later, unconscious, with an amber furred fox guarding him- and that refused to leave his side- and sporting various injuries and bruises all over his body, an eyepatch they couldn't remove covering his left eye.

 _~line here~_

Obito woke up to a coughing fit that was probably caused by the water his... _father_ dumped on him. Sitting up slowly on his bed he warily glanced at the imposing man that was a few feet away from him and refused to utter a word.

"Boy, I will give you ten minutes to be decent for breakfast. Fail to be on time and you skip this meal as well, and you get punished. _Clear_?"

Nodding, he quickly stood up and bowed, racing for the bathroom in order to have a quick shower after taking a clear change of clothes, barely avoiding stepping on the tail of one of his kittens- from the white fur, he guessed it was Hisame (氷雨)- and quickly washed and changed himself, not even sparing a single glance at the mirror hanged above the sink. He hated them, actually he disliked every single reflecting surface, but mirrors were worse, mirrors could hurt him too...

On the nine minutes mark he stepped into the kitchen, slowly, careful to not make unnecessary sounds, standing at the left side of the door after muttering a quiet "Good morning" to make his parents aware of his presence in the room and only daring to sit at the table after his mother gave him permission.

He was always the last one to be able to sit down, the order was his father Kasai (火災), his mother Itsuwari (偽り), his five-year-older brother Yōgan (溶岩), his two-years-younger sister Kokuyōseki (黒曜石) and, last as usual, him.

Breakfast usually was spent in silence- unless there was something important to say- and as soon as he was finished Obito left the house while his parents went to attend clan business and his sibling went their separatr ways, Yōgan to the jounin mission board and Kokuyōseki to the ninja academy.

This morning, however, didn't look like a peaceful day. Judging by the glares his brother sent him, he wasn't going to leave the house anytime soon and even when he left, he suspected he was going to be in a lot of pain.

~ _fucking line~_

As he was pacing around the southern area of the forest, Obito found himself dropping his ever-present smile, a smile that was as fake as the plastic of his orange googles. Honestly, he was tired of this. Of the fake smiles, the fake laughs, the fake memories that a fake him created with a team that struggled to keep itself together.

He wondered, did he have any kind of purpose in this life? Or a _need_ to be _there_? It was moments like this, when he could be his more darker self, stripped of his fakeness- the smiles, his googles, his whole cheerful personality- and just have a breath of fresh air. He couldn't show this him to the team, they would worry, maybe, his mask was by now so well built that he found it really hard to even be able to drop it for a moment.

This is why he was enjoying this alone-moment. Even if he was in a mission, the absence of his teammates and his sensei was refreshing to the point that sometimes he guiltily found himself thinking about a life without them. A life where he wasn't Obito Uchiha.

 _Uchiha_.

How he hates that name. They were so ashamed of him, ashamed that he bore the same name as a prodigy like young Itachi- the kid was clan heir, but he was already training with the Clan's most powerful jutsu- that they told the whole world that he was an orphan, that he had only his grandmother. Sure, the old woman- and here he was the one being ashamed, for not remembering her name- cared a lot about him but she was going senile and often found herself in the hospital for check- ups or bad health, and he was sure that it wouldn't be long before she died.

And then he would be alone.

Sure, he could confide in Minato- sensei, maybe Rin too, but then he would have to explain so much. They would ask just so much for him to bear through the whole QA session... Kakashi was out of the picture. Absolutely. Sure, he might understand what it's like to lose a close relative but he doubted he would be of much help. However, he would not ask troublesome questions. Like the origin of the new bruise- a darkish purple colour, tinted yellow in few points- that he sported, badly concealed with a lot of make up, on his left cheek. Or the ones adorning his ribcage and his back. The cuts on his arms too. Or the general fact that he wore a lot of thick, dark, baggy and long clothes everytime of the year, be it summer or winter.

He was aware that Kakashi noticed that something was up. The silver haired boy was far too observant for his own good, but he knew that the only reason he refrained himself from actually confronting him was because of his stubborn and apparently uncaring personality. Obito bet that it was a matter of a week _at most_ before the other made a direct confrontation.

He sighed and passed a hand through his messy black hair.

"I wish I could just be alone."

"No, you don't." Who-

Obito only caught the sight of a pair of beautiful eyes- a deep sky blue, with darker zones and hints of purple and ruby red- and then he found himself falling to the ground before darkness engulfed him.

~ _liiiiiineeeeee~_

When they found him, Kakashi wasn't sure of what to think. Despite everything he said and told the other boy, in the end he couldn't just _not_ care about his well- being. After all they were supposed to be a team and teams were composed of four people, a jounin sensei and three students.

As much trouble as Obito was, Kakashi considered him a good 'rival'- not that he would ever admit it. Sure, the raven haired boy was chronically late, annoying and a loud-mouth but at least he knew what it means to be a shinobi.

This is why when a small search team found the other boy in those conditions, without a single idea as to what could have happened to him and when they all reached the hospital it was found out that Obito had more serious injuries than expected, Kakashi truly didn't know what to do: a few broken ribs, a small skull fracture, a sprained wrist and ankle, a few broken fingers- hands and feet, muscolar lacerations in the biceipts and tights, internal bleeding in the stomach area and a lot of cuts and whipping-like marks. When Minato-sensei was informed about this he had nearly fainted, a luck that his girlfriend Kushina Uzumaki was with him to led him sitting on a chair; Rin soon asked to be able to heal his teammate and was granted permission, she was a certified Medic Ninja and she needed all the experience she could get: Kakashi instead went to ask the medic about the nature of those injuries. He had a feeling something wasn't right, especially about those cuts and whipping marks.

He was right.

This time he hated it.

The cuts were all about three to five centimeters long and were either positioned on both wrists, the abdomen or the calves, the olders had two months, the newers just a few days; the whipping marks were spread mostly on the back, with two or three on the chest area and newest marks covered older scars so much that it was impossible to correctly define their age.

Kakashi soon told this to his blond sensei and the redhead with him; as suspected, they were surprised at first but soon fell into a cold rage that promised murder to the culprit. Or culprits if there were more. Kakashi was more than willing to add his two cents too.

About the fox, Kakashi found out it could talk.

And that said fox didn't like to be referred as an 'it' either. Nanami, that was her name, the same name she gave to Obito himself when she found him and had asked for one. She soon took a liking to the silver haired chuunin, much to Minato and Kushina's amusement, and she had all but refused to climb down from her spot on his head.

"Your hair is fluffy and comfy, I'm sleeping here. Wake me up only when and if Obito-kun awakes before me." and that was it.

At least he was able to put her down on his lap, giving him the chance to inspect her: she had an amber coloured fur that was soft and clean, the tips of her tail, paws and ears a dark-brown, almost black colour and a mask like area around her mismatched eyes was connectec to the darker part of her pointy ears. And said ears resembled more those of a bunny than a fox's. Going back to her eyes, the left one was a deep sky blue with purple zones while the right one was ruby red mixed with gold. Then of course those eyes sported slitted pupils as well, he also suspected that her claws were sharp and long, like deadly kunai or senbons. Her most intriguing fact was that she had a ribbon tied loosely around her neck, deep blue with the ends a shade lighter with embroidered what looked like a crescent moon and a small sun.

He swore he saw that symbol somewhere.

He also swore to do his hardest to remember.

But now that wasn't his top priority. No. It was to find out who caused all those injuries to his hospitalized teammates. He started to notice that sonething was off a few weeks ago, but he told himself to wait for the best moment.

He now found himself unable to wait any longer, even if that mean to directly confront Obito as soon as he woke up.

~ _line line line~_

Minato, we need to talk."

"Inoichi? About what? Something happened?"

"Obito."

"Start talking."

Minato wasn't expecting _that_ , for him _that_ wasn't even a possibility. How could someone- with what _courage_ you do that to a child? Obito may be twelve but in his eyes he was still a child.

Kushina needed to know.

~ _line of suspence_ ~

Team Minato was all gathered at the house Kushina and Minato shared, all with a warm cup of tea and grim faces. They all knew just who Yamanaka Inoichi was. But not the reason as to why he was there with them. Apparently it was about their comatose teammate, asleep in the hospital now for a week.

"I was asked from the Hogake if I could check among Obito's memories of his time in the forest in order to find any kind of clue of possible aggressors. I agreed and entered the boy's mindscape. What I am about to tell you doesn't leave this house." they all nodded, eager to know more.

"In the simplest term, his mind is a mess. Usually a person's mindscape is organized in a certain way that reflect said person personality, often looking like a familiar place like their home or, sometimes, their ideal perfect place. Obito's mind isn't like this. While I could see a small organization of the mind, mostly about childhood memories and book-smart knowledge, I couldn't find more. In cases like this there are three options: the first is that the victim is suffering the after effects of a rather powerful genjutsu- A rank at least- the second option is that the state of the mindscape is an after effect of emotional trauma caused by a rather...violent experience, or the third option, one I don't like at all, that suggests mental health problems going from anxiety and depression to hypomania, bipolar disorders and borderline personality disorder, or BPD."

"What does that mean, Inoichi-sama?"

"Well Kakashi, due to Obito being an Uchiha we can exclude the first option. Sharingan or not, every memeber of their Clan start developing a resistance to genjutsu from the moment they start training their chakra so it's impossible for them to incurr in any kind of mental trauma from a genjutsu." he paused to give them all the time to let it sink, sipping at his tea before continuing "However the last two options may also be related to one another and if it's true, considering the fact Obito is only twelve, it makes me wonder if the Hokage should really stay out of Clans's buisness."

They all shared a look, drinking their tea before Minato decided to speak.

"Before this meeting, we talked in order to clarify some doubts and we reached a conclusion. A bad one."

"...Sensei does it have anything to do to what Inoichi-sama said? About Obito being only twelve? Why are you afraid of this _something_ being true?"

"Because we were, and still are, suspecting abuse."

Kushina choked on her breath, tears threatening to fall from her dark blue eyes, looking at her boyfriend with an emotions-filled expression.

"Minato? Inoichi? Please, _please,_ tell me you are kidding. Please. You just- you can't- CHILD ABUSE! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY THINK OBITO IS FORCED TO COPE WITH SOMETHING AS HORRIBLE AS THAT!"

The two chunin, Rin and Kakashi, while not grasping the gravity of what their sensei just said couldn't send away the feelling of dread that was settled on themselves and the woman tearfilled face and her outburst certainly didn't make things better.

"If you keep thinking about it, you won't be able to find a single thing." a new voice spoke, coming from the open window, and Kakashi was the first one to identify its possessor.

"Nanami. Why are you here? Didn't you say you wanted to stay with Obito until he awoke?"

"Well, _Bakashi"_ the fox- no, the kitsune as she explained earlier- with a jump laned on the silver haired boy head "Obito is awake. I supposed to wanted to know"

"Let's go visit him then. Inoichi, we'll finish this talk another day."

"Sure thing Minato. Think about the boy's recover first. See ya'."


	2. CHAPTER 2- NEKONIN AND YŌKINA TAKI

__**CHAPTER 2- NEKONIN AND YŌKINA TAKI**__

On the top three of things he hated, when mirrors were in third place, the hospital was in second. He had many reasons to, after all his grandmother was in a blinding white room 24/7 by now and even if he knew she was old and probably going to die soon it still infuriated him that the nurse that usually treated her did nothing more than keeping her company; then there was the fact that hospitals left a paper trail, info on patients as their clinical cartels where accessible to everyone with at least chūnin rank, as much as he yelled around about his dream he liked to be the only one to know himself.

 _ _It's not like he knew himself that well either way__ _._

The third reason was because of bills.

His parents were so, so angry that time he broke an arm and had to go to the hospital to put it in a cast that he didn't remember if it hurt more feeling the bone snapping in two or the disappointment he saw in his parents- his whole family's eyes.

He had to pay the bill by himself.

He hated the hospital because as much as he spent time there, both as a visitor and a patient, nobody had ever visited him while he was bedridden.

He hated hospitals- and even more he hated the loneliness that came with them.

 _ _~line line line~__

 _ _He dreamt of falling rocks, of screaming and crying, of blood and of enraged red eyes.__

 _ _He dreamt of a dark cave, a tree, a powerful old presence and a red moon.__

 _ _He dreamt about lost hope, of lightning birds and a shattered mind.__

 _ _He dreamt about hate, the happiest day turned nightmare and rampaging nine tails leading to deaths.__

 _ _He dreamt about blood, broken brothers and a swear of revenge.__

 _ _He dreamt about red cloud, red chakra, red eyes and red blood.__

 _ _He dreamt about__ _ _being found,__ _ _being cared for, being loved.__

 _ _He dreamt about caring gray eyes and red lips stretched in a warm smile.__

 _ _He dreamt about being forgiven__ _ _while forgiving himself too__ _ _.__

 _ _He dreamt about love.__

 _ _He dreamt about finding his place.__

 _ _~line line line~__

Obito watched, passively, as his team mates plus Kushina asked him questions one after another not caring if they spoke over each other making them incomprehensible to him. He wasn't watching them though. His eyes- or eye, as his left one was still under a black eyepatch- was fixated on their general direction but it was dull, without its usual spark of cheerfulness, empty- a pitch black pool of emotionless despair.

Nanami was curled on his lap, allowing herself to be petted, and she was focused solely on him; she scanned his face, now sporting an almost healed split-lip, a faint bruise and bandages on his forehead; she watched his hands that caressed her smooth fur, bandaged as well, and noticed a faint trembling in them as if they were too weak to move; lastly she looked at the bandages all over his arms, visible only because of the short sleeves of the hospital kimono-like shirt and the bandages around his thin neck and torso.

Uh. She noticed he was skinny, but not this much. It was basically to the point of starvation.

Slowly, the kitsune moved from her spot successfully catching Obito's attention- his only visible eye now with a spark of curiosity in it- and raised herself on her posterior paws, using the frontal paws to support herself in an almost erected position as she reached with them his slumped shoulders. They were now face to face with each other, the other occupants of the room unaware of what was happening, Obito confused by Nanami's actions. Then the fox touched his nose with her own, licking him on his not injured cheek, and then completely let herself fall over with the full length of her body against his torso, her frontal paws curled around his neck in a shockingly human way and her small face rested in the niche between his left shoulder and neck.

He started chocking on his breath, tears reaching his eyes and silently falling as he recognised the motion the small animal was doing: she was hugging him. Even one of his kittens did this on a daily basic. Arms shaking, not at all weirded out by the situation, he gently returned her affectionate gesture not bothering to hide his uncontrollable sobbing.

 _ _~ line, feels are coming...maybe~__

They watched, feeling helpless, as their raven haired comrade cried his heart out.

They never heard someone cry like that, despair clear in his screams as thin tears fell down his cheeks and onto the kitsune's fur.

Obito was crying and none of them knew what to do about it, the first time the young boy was actually crying his heart out- because they could tell, this was different from his crocodile tears that gave him the moniker of 'crybaby'- and the only thing they could do was to watch unable to move.

What was the point of them coming there if they couldn't even comfort him when he cried?

Suddenly there were noises, not loud though, coming from the closed window as if someone was scratching it. Kushina broke from her trance and went to move the white curtains to see a bunch of kittens of various colourations- she swore she saw a pink one. ****PINK****!- that were trying to open the window using their paws, even if without success.

"Kushina-san, could you let them in?" a soft voice called her attention back from the animals and turned over to meet Obito's eye, red from tears, watching her with a small plea in it.

She smiled "Of course Obito. You know them?"

A small pause "Yeah."

As soon as she opened the window the kittens rushed inside the room mewing and waiving their fluffy tails left and right, obviously showing their happiness to be there, to see him.

"...How- how many are there...?"

"They're only half of them, Minato-sensei. Let me see...uuummm...here there are only seven of them but in total I have fifteen...even though I usually get another one once in a while..."

"They're all yours?"

"Ah...uh...yes. Yes Rin, they're...mine..."

"You don't seem convinced."

"...I consider them friends not possessions. Most of them are also nekonin and considering them possessions just feels wrong to me so..."

"Nekonin? Since when?"

"Since always Kakashi. Since always. You just never cared to know."

Ouch. That hurt.

"What's their names?"

"...It will take some time...do you really want to know Rin?"

The girl smiled "Of course I do Obito!"

"All right then. Most of them are associated with a specific chakra nature or justu, like Iryū(イリュージョン) is the one specific for genjustu.

Katon is Hanabi(花火)" he picked up a female with fiery red-orange fur with the tips of her paws, tail and ears a rich gold.

"Futon is Hikō(飛行)" he gently grabbed a male with pastel green fur with light blue spots and a small set of wings on his back.

"Doton is Noboru(登る)" he gestured to a kitten that had long dark coloured fur and a longer fluffy tail than the others.

"Suiton is Kaiyō(海洋)" the kitten was resting on Obito's free shoulder, noticeable for his dark blue-purple wavy fur and for a pair of fins at the sides of her head. She was also obviously bigger than the others.

"Raiton is Raimei(雷鳴)" she was a white kitten that never stopped going around the room and was distinguishable for the lighting like yellow spots on her fur.

"Iryū is the pink one, and like I said her speciality is genjutsu while the last one is Yakusō(薬草), and with training she will be really useful for medical ninjutsu." Yakusō was the smaller of them and his fur was green with black stripes, tail thinner and longer than the others.

By when he had finished speaking, all of the newly introduced nekonin had taken places all over him- two were climbing on his arms, one perched on each shoulder, another on his head, another one inside his hospital shirt with only his face showing and the last one was playing with his non bandaged hand- and Nanami was laying on his left side, using his leg as a pillow, just in time to see a nurse entering the room that started squealing as soon as she saw him.

"Oh Kami, Obito-kun, you're all __adorable__!"

" _ _Yōkina-san__!"

 _ _~ line~ line~ line__

"Well, Obito-kun, I'm happy to see that you're recovering but you seriously need to pay more attention and be careful. It's already the third time this month."

"It's not my fault this time! I swear!"

A playful glare "That may be so but you're still here."

"I was fine! I only had a sprained wrist 'cause I tripped down the stairs. __Again.__ I don't know what happened in that damned forest and this is as annoying for me as it is for you, Yōkina-san.

She sighed "Ok, I believe you. But now we need to have a more serious discussion. Should I tell them to leave and wait outside?"

Them being Minato, Kushina, Kakashi and Rin.

Obito glanced at them as they stood awkwardly by the wall at the left side of his bed, but even if he could see they were expecting him to say that yes, they could stay, he knew for sure that he didn't- he wasn't ready for them to get too deeply into his life.

A flat refusal then "I want them out."

He couldn't look at them, he was afraid to see their disappointment.

"You heard him. Please, wait outside. I just need to tell him a few things about his injuries anyway. Ten minutes at most."

"Ah! O- okay then. Minato, Rin-chan, Kakashi-kun, let's go."

As soon as they heard the soft click of the door closing, the nurse opened her medical cartel and started listing all the injuries they found on him and the possible causes. Thankfully, they were far away from the truth.

"I want you to get away from that damned house."

Obito flinched "It's okay!"

"It's not! Obito, you are scared of them! You've been scared of who you should call family for the past eight years! I know that I said that I wouldn't have done anything unless you asked me to but this can't keep going. One day you'll get here too hurt for us- _for_ _ _me__ \- to do anything! _I know it!_ Please Obito-kun, let me help you. You don't deserve this."

Obito couldn't speak or look at the woman in the eyes, he was at lost of what to do. It was unusual for him to have people that told him they cared about him, that they wanted him to be safe, to be happy. While he knew that Yōkina-san took care of him out of her own will, he still couldn't believe that she truly meant what she always told him.

Even after eight years.

He still remembered how in the beginning he couldn't stop himself from panicking whenever someone entered his hospital room with something resembling a point. He was even scared of __pens.__ Not that now he wasn't but he got better to stop the panic attacks as soon as they came, he didn't want to get triggered while in the academy or whenever Minato-sensei wrote a mission report with them damnit!

But it still was painful when he realized that he wasn't normal.

Normal people weren't scared of harmless things such as pens or salt. They weren't scared of going down the stairs, of small rooms or of shadows. They weren't scared of people.

This was the first thing the medics found out about him, leading to them allowing Yōkina-san to always be his nurse.

She always managed to calm him down after one of his panic attacks and she knew almost all of the things that seriously triggered him and she went down her ways to prevent them.

Seeing her like this, with her eyes full of unshed tears, hands gripping tightly around her cartel and so, so scared for him... he didn't know what to do.

"Yōkina-san...I __can't__. And even if I could, where would I go? I don't have enough money to go live on my own and nobody would ever want the Black Sheep of the Uchiha Clan near them." he still refused to look at her, but at least he was talking.

"Obito-kun, there are many people who would be happy to welcome you into their home... and you being different from the other members of your clan doesn't make you less valuable. You are allowed to run away from what scares you and yet you refuse to do so. Your happiness is every day more and more fake and I hate seeing you like this."

"...I will think about it."

She smiled "Thank you, Obito-kun. Thank you."

 _ _~ line~ line~ line__

Yōkina Taki(陽気な 滝) was a kind woman on her early thirties, with wavy chocolate brown hair tied in a loose ponytail and warm blue eyes. She was also the nurse that always treated him whenever he was admitted in the hospital, even if only for minor injuries. They had a close relationship and every staff member in the hospital knew that, relationship dated to the woman's first day in Konoha Hospital, Children Ward, and Obito's first time in the Children's Ward when he was four.

Originally, she was supposed to take care of low ranked shinobi like new genin or chuunin- she herself was a Tokubetsu Jounin for her mastery of poisons and a medic nin- but because of the need of more personnel the Head Medic assigned her to Obito for the whole week he was in the hospital.

But then, only a month later, Obito came back with a mild case of malnutrition and had to stay in the hospital again for a full month to recover and only two weeks after he was released he came back __again__ with a broken arm.

She remembered pretty well the talk she had we the boy's terrible father, how he told her that he refused to pay for "His useless son's incapacity of doing anything more that waste everybody's time with trivial matters without hurting himself as a mean to ask for attention." and that he "Didn't want to be bothered with that disgrace of an Uchiha more that necessary.".

She could hear the boy crying from his room, probably because of the harsh words of that man, and her heart had broken to know that something like that could still happen even in a village as peaceful as Konoha was.

So she decided to stand up, head raised high, and told the bastard to leave. He was disturbing the other patients rest with his yelling after all.

Then she went into Obito's room.

She would take care of him for now.

She just didn't expect to start thinking of him as her son.

 _ _~ line ~__

"Minato."

"Kushina? What is it?"

"That nurse….didn't she say something about Obito being in the hospital three times this month?"

"Kushina-neesan, Obito was always present at team meeting this month. Sure he was always late but with him that's the norm. Plus we would have noticed if he had bandages or was taking some kind of pills. Nothing ever suggested to him being in the hospital."

The two adults looked at each other, a pensive expression on their faces.

"But….if that's true….that Obito was in the hospital and we never knew….What else did we miss about his life?"

Kakashi's thoughts, however, were different 'It's more like what we _are_ missing. And I don't like it, not even a bit.'

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE**

 **Hello everyone! First thing I would really like to thank all who added this story to the favourites, followed and revewed. It means a lot ^^ I just wanted to tell you a few things I thought you all sould know: first is that english is not my first language and while I will do my best to write correctly, if any of you finds errors don't refrain to tell me; second thing is that I will stick to publish one chapter per month and that I plan on making them all about the same length 'cause I like as a reader to have stories with chapters almost of the same legth and as a writer I will do the same; third thing is that while this has canon characters with their relationships mostly unchanged from canon, THIS IS NOT A CANON STORY.**

 **Konoha will have a few traditions that aren't present in canon and I am alredy trying to find the best way to introduce them as well as a few Oc that are needed for the story.**

 **Speaking of Ocs, I don't like them much so I won't add a lot of important Ocs. Yokina Taki from this chapter will have a semi-important role as well as other character that will come.**

 **Also, there is another thing about this story that I won't tell you but I will be giving you hints to find out on your own ;)**

 **Last thing is that I will focus on characterizations for the first chapters but then I will try to proceed at a faster pace with the story.**

 **By the way, if someone is interested in being the Beta for the story I will appreciate it.**

 **See you next month!**


	3. CHAPTER 3- A CONFLICTUAL MIND

__**CHAPTER 3-**__ _ _ **A CONFLICTUAL MIND**__

Kakashi Hatake was a prodigy and nobody denied it.

There were moments when someone doubted the extent of his abilities but people like these were usually quick to change their minds, especially after seeing him in action.

More times than not, the young shinobi actually liked the various privileges that came with the title: he could be allowed into restricted section of the ninja library, where every jutsu known was written in scrolls and ready to be learnt by someone who had the ability to; he could easily manage to get restricted info about specific missions if he only choose to; he could wander around with a freedom normal chuunin usually didn't have.

However there was something people didn't know, something that he kept hidden with all his might.

And it was that he wasn't a prodigy.

Not in the actual sense of the word at least.

He was more skilled than people his age, a little smarter and he was able to learn things at a faster pace mostly because he thrived for knowledge.

He aced the academy tests because he had his father to teach him and explain all the things he didn't clearly understand, to correct him whenever he made a mistake with a taijutsu stance or with handsigns. He just was lucky to have a great help.

Then his father took the mission that destroyed everything.

The memory of the day he found his father on the ground, a cold feeling of dread washing over him as he went to shake Sakumo lightly hoping for him to wake….but then he didn't. He remembered the sheer terror overcoming him as he went to check for a proof the man was still alive. He remembered that he was only four, five in only a few months, and that he was absolutely and completely terrified at the idea that his father had left him. Until that emotion became a grudge and than hate. He hated him, because he didn't think over leaving him alone forever when he was so, so young for him to lose someone….

At Sakumo's funeral there were only a few people, among of them the Hokage and Minato-sensei and Kushina-neesan….and someone else, watching from the distance.

Then he became more and more focused in his training to care.

Friends were useless, they only stopped him from improving.

Regulations became his mantra.

Because those who break the rule are trash, and only shame will fall upon them.

* * *

Kakashi was currently searching among the numerous books and scrolls kept into the Shinobi library for a clue on the Sun-and-Moon symbol on Nanami's bow. Again. It was the third time that week.

He'd been reading for the past three hours, having come early in the morning to avoid confusion, and he was now thriving for a break. He put a bookmark and closed the book he'd been glaring at the past few minutes- a book about various shinobi symbols and their meanings- and got towards the small cafeteria of the library.

Obito had awoken barely two days ago and with the tension gone- because he wasn't worried. No. Minato-sensei, shut up- he was finally able to research without having hindering thoughts in his traitorous mind.

He closed his eyes, finished drinking his cappuccino and ate the last biscuit before going back to the table he occupied.

He was still unable to concentrate.

Again, he closed his eyes allowing his body to relax.

He opened them, looking at the reflecting surface of the glass table, dark-gray, almost black eyes had turned an entrancing silver translucent colour.

He glanced at his hands, at the various threads tied to his thin fingers: each thread symbolised a bond and the colour the kind of bond between him and the person on the other end.

He glanced at the blue thread tied on his left middle finger, that one was his favourite because it connected him to Minato-sensei.

Then there was a black one, beginning to form tied on one of his pinkies. He hated it. Black was the colour of death and if it was tied to the pinky it meant that he couldn't change it.

He also hated not knowing who was on the other side.

He glared at it, then with a blink his eyes had gone back to their normal dark colour.

He wondered if someone else in Konoha had Sight.

* * *

Sometimes, after one of his nightmares-memories, he awoke with his silver eyes focusing on one of the Ōkami following him.

They were creatures made of white mist, with red lines colouring their faces in place of whiskers or around their eyes, and where always wandering around the Hatake compound- though he didn't live there anymore, not after that day- or his apartment, waiting.

Ōkami were powerful wolf spirits that either took your life or protected it depending on the actions one does in their life, and they were waiting exactly for this. He either gained their respect and their protection or they killed him for his failures. There were no in betweens.

His father had two of them under contract, two of the invisible-to-most wolf spirits that he used to materialize in the form of chakra blades of the colour of lighting, giving him the moniker of White Fang, and that followed his lead 'till the end.

He wondered if he could gain their trust one day.

He could never go back to sleep after those nights.

* * *

Kakashi was back in the Hospital, having decided to go visit Obito for once, and silently walked along the white corridors of the place, soon reaching for the boy's room.

As he opened the door, for a brief second his Sight activated itself and he thought he saw a few creatures with an elephant's trunk, rhinoceros' eyes, an ox's tail, and a tiger's paws.

 _Those are Bakus_ , his mind supplied him with an answer he didn't know he had as his Sight disappeared.

Obito was awake, looking out of the window with a sketchpad in hand in which he was writing? Drawing? Something he couldn't quite see.

"Hello Obito. How are you?"

The other boy made no signs of moving nor stopping from doing whatever he was doing and instead hummed in acknowledgement before putting an apple slice in his mouth. Kakashi was seriously at loss at what to do, he wasn't used to…. _this._ Usually the Uchiha scowled at him, glared and yelled if only to have a bit of recognition from someone that actually _looked_ at him instead of just seeing him but he never, **never** dismissed him in a way so casual that it made it look like he was barely registering what was happening, that who he considered to be his greatest rival and the obstacle to overcome was just a nuisance if the way Obito just acted was anything to go by.

It left him terribly confused. Confused by his teammate antics but also by how many things he was fastly realizing he knew and noticed about the older boy. Kakashi knew that Obito was good at close range attacks, his taijutsu was really good and the boy seemed to use something different from the usual form other Uchiha used and he also noticed, the few times he actually had the chance to, that he was extremely proficient with various kinds of weapons and the moment he saw him grasping the handle of a katana, or when he analysed a senbon before throwing it with a flick of his wrist dead centre on a moving target or even when he tried a freaking _kusarigama_ for the first time and he was able to use the damned thing perfectly only after a few minutes…. It left him entranced. And apparently he was also curious about fuinjutsu, but Kakashi didn't know if the other was good at that or not as he never saw him practicing.

He was bad with chakra control. Obito was among those few people with high reserves and this went in the way even with practicing ninjutsu but he got down the standard chakra control exercises with actual ease- he admitted that even if tree walking could be considered some form of easy, water walking wasn't and it still hurt his pride remembering when he was learning that- and that there was something wrong on the way he tried the various katon jutsu his clan was so famous for; he wasn't bad at genjutsu but didn't exactly excel either, he could dispel them and could cast a few strong ones but that was the end of it; then something he'd noticed as well was that when he thought nobody was looking he started muttering to himself and when this happened he often enhanced his hearing with chakra and listened closely to Obito's muttering of actual strategies, and back-up plans, and various battle scenarios with so many insights that he doubted the Uchiha was an actual idiot. Lastly, Obito was rather fit for a twelve years old even if he was a shinobi. Not that he actually looked at the other boy while they were bathing in random rivers during various missions, and it's not like he noticed Obito's back muscles and shoulder blades slightly bulging out as he stretched his body, or the fact that he already had an accent of abs that weren't half bad- though his ribcage was a little too much visible- or that he often found himself staring at the boy's firm ass…

Waitwaitwait, halt, halt, HALT! **NO**. Just no.

He wasn't having certain thoughts on his male teammate, who was also a year older that him and that there was a full three inches of height difference between them and that Obito had actually hugged him once- NO COMMENT- and that he had felt so _safe…_ he had wondered what could it feel like to wake up every morning with Obito's arms wrapped securely around his smaller body.

….

What. The. HELL!

WHY WAS HE HAVING THOSE KIND OF THOUGHTS ABOUT OBITO?!

However, lost in his thoughts as he was, Kakashi didn't notice that Obito had put his sketchpad away and that he was looking at him with a mildly amused stare that was probably the result of him calling out the silver haired boy's name five times without getting an answer.

The raven decided to be drastic, slowly getting out of bed and walking towards Kakashi and then poking him slightly above his left hip, resulting in a rather girlish yelping that ended in Kakashi stumbling backwards and falling with his backside and head meeting the cold, hard floor.

* * *

When poor, flustered, little Kakashi came back to his senses, the first thing he noticed was that he wasn't on the floor, as he was actually laying on a rather comfortable surface; secondly there was someone sitting beside him; last but not least, WHAT THE HELL! HE DIDN'T SEE OBITO THAT WAY, GODDAMNIT!

"Kakashi, you look constipated."

A pause, eyes widening in realization "Why am I in bed with you?"

The Uchiha snorted, trying to reign in his laughter and failing miserably at that "You came here but I was busy drawing that I barely noticed you but then I called you like five times and you didn't answer so I decided to call you back from whatever perverted thoughts you were having by tickling you- you have a _really_ sensitive spot a bit above your hips- but I had barely poked you with a finger that you yelped like a girl and fell back and passed out."

"….I didn't 'yelp like a girl', thank you very much. But you didn't explain how I got in bed with you." he purposely ignored the 'perverted thoughts' and the 'sensitive spot' things. How did Obito even knew about it?!

"Careful on how you word things, _Bakashi_. That sounded like we did something dirty."

"W-why you little-" "I asked Yōkina-san to help me put you in bed and I honestly didn't see anything wrong with the both of us sharing it so I simply got back to do what I was doing before you came. And you are the little one, not me."

Kakashi glared at him, having pushed himself up in a sitting position, but stopped himself from punching the other- a light punch, mind you, he didn't want to make the situation worse- as soon as he realized that Obito's sketchpad was widely open and that he could see what the Uchiha was using it for and…. _Woah._ It was mesmerizing. And, apparently, Obito could draw reeeaally well.

And he could only see like three sketches.

Obito noticed and wordlessly passed his sketchpad to Kakashi, a small blush spreading on his pale cheeks at the silver haired boy's baffled expression as he took it without a word, starting flipping through the pages in a way someone would treat an ancient relic.

As for Kakashi, he carefully took in every single picture, from the full pages covered with forests of tall trees, with a clear river running in the background and a golden horned deer drinking its water; or a desert of white dunes, a city of colourful small houses and a girl in a dancer's clothes moving in rithm with the melody of a guitar, a crowd clapping enthusiastically all around her; to small portraits of small animals- he recognised the nekonin they'd met the other day- and childrens or _was that Kakashi himself?!_ He inspected the page with newly found interest, noticing how Obito was able to catch even the smallest detail about him, the strange way his hair seemed to defy gravity and the exact colour of his eyes and- he was smiling. The mask was still there but he could tell that his mouth was curved up under it, if the shadow of his lips were any indications, and his eyes that usually reflected nothing if not irritation held a hint of fondness towards whoever was looking….

Could he really smile like that? He didn't remember ever smiling near Obito. Minato-sensei was probably the only one who ever saw him smiling….

"Why…?"

Obito briefly looked at him, catching a glimpse of his sketch and went as red as a tomato while trying to find the right words to explain his reasons without actually having to say too much.

"You need to smile more."

"This is not what I asked."

"Uh, well, suck it up. It was a random drawing. It means nothing."

"Oh? So other drawings actually have a meaning?"

"…that's not your business."

"And you are avoiding my questions."

"Why do you even care?"

"Because you're my teammate, dead last."

Obito snorted "Yeah, riiight."

"I'm serious."

"As if you actually care about your teammates."

"Shut up. I care."

"Then why. Why now of all moments? Is it because I'm in this damned place?"

A pause "No."

"You hesitated."

"I didn't."

"You did. I would have believed you more if you said you actually liked Rin back."

"What has that anything to do with this discussion? And you have yet to answer my questions!"

"I DON'T DO PITY PARTIES HATAKE!" Kakashi flinched "We are not friends. You don't even consider me a good shinobi. _You never cared about me_. But now 'cause I got in the hospital you suddenly started being all friendly and treating me like I'm a weak idiot waiting for someone to cheer me up. Falsh news Hatake: I. Don't. Need. You. Exactly like you don't need me. You want your answers? Then yes, most of what I draw has a meaning. Things I remember from my childhood and my parents before they died and things I dreamt about. Why I drew you smiling? Because apparently the only way I could get you to show emotions is if I draw them on your fucking face. If you want to start caring don't give me the hospital bullshit! If you really want to start caring at least let it be genuine! Don't start giving me hope Hatake."

"...h-hope?"

Obito had stood up halfway through his ranting, barely managing to hold back his tears as his fists shook with suppressed anger.

"I hate you. I really hate you _Hatake_."

And Kakashi knew, from the way Obito said his name- his last name- that he did. Obito truly hated him, and despite having always thought of emotions being only a hindrance, Kakashi could not avoid the feeling of emptyness that followed him from that moment.

A lone tear fell from his left eye, his chest feeling as if someone was crushing it from inside and when more tears started to come he did nothing to stop them.

His mind, always focused on rules and the suppression of any emotion, was crumbling on itself like all of his securities were suddenly taken away, crushed in front of him and then the feeling grew more.

 _I hate you_

Those words kept repeating themselves like a spell or a curse.

 _I hate you_

Because he didn't. Kakashi didn't hate him. He didn't hate Obito. He didn't. He didn't, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't! He never did!

As he cried, his conflictual mind came up for the right answer in the middle of the pain of rejection, an answer he wouldn't find until it was too late and his world became coloured red.

* * *

 _I love him_

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

 **Hello people! This month's chapter arrived rather early, I actually had this ready since a week ago, but I decided to publish it now 'cause I'm currently in Ireland with a Study &Work program and I honestly don't know how much I'll be able to write daily.**

 **I hope you like this as much as I love writing it ^_^**

 **See you on October!**


	4. CHAPTER 4- HIDDEN WORLD

_**CHAPTER 4- HIDDEN WORLD**_

 _This world is full of things that don't go as you wish. The longer you live the more you realise reality is just made of pain, suffering and emptyness… listen… in this world, whenever there is light, there are also shadows. As long as the concept of winner exist, there must also be losers. The selfish desire of wanting to maintain peace causes wars and hatred is born to protect love._

His grandfather was the first person to show him the terrifingly beautiful world only known to selected people: the Hidden World, a world that existed in symbiosis with the normal, boring one, a world full of monsters, of mesmerizing creatures that live anchored to abstract essences, dreams with a physical form ready to play with children, spirits that roamed the Five Elemental Nations to tell the tale of long forgotten lands and eras to those who had the hears to listen.

Occulto is another word to refer to this place.

Obito saw it for the first time when he was three and his mother had died just a year prior. He was born with Sight, the ability to see Occulto, his grandfather noticing when he saw him talking with a bakeneko that he shouldn't have been able to see. The older man had took him aside, told him to close his eyes and Obito remembered feeling something- ghostly hands that still held the warmth of life somehow- and when he opened them again his eyes were a bright sky blue colour similar to Minato-sensei's own eyes.

And he could see with a clarity that made the wind look silver.

He remembered the first time he spoke with a ghost, his first friend and confidant, and it had been not a lot of time after he was put in a team with Kaka- Hatake, in a team with Hatake and Rin-chan. He had been crying, after almost every single member of his Clan had insulted him, hidden in one of the numerous underground tunnels that he was sure nobody remembered and the ghost had appeared literally out of thin air, noticed the Uchiha fan stitched on his clothes and flashed him a tentative smile and hesitantly introduced himself "Hello, I'm Izuna. Uchiha Izuna. I think you're the first person who can actually see me. Who are you?". It all developed from there.

* * *

"Obito..."

"What do you want Izuna?"

"You shouldn't force yourself to hate him. Especially because you don't."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I always hated him, only that now I hate him more."

"You've been released from the hospital and on active duty two weeks ago and you haven't even spoken to him once. You are being ridiculous."

"Your hair is ridiculous."

"…That was uncalled for…"

"Your face is uncalled for."

Obito glared at him, the blue light of the crystals around them shining with a dim light as the two- a ghost of a warrior with a smile too bright and a boy who sought comfort in a world made of dreams-walked along one of the various underground tunnels.

The crystals, Obito found out that they responded to three things: being an Uchiha, said clan's Pureblood line and Sight. Obito had all three of them.

Nobody knew. They forgot what it meant.

Another thing that he found out, still while wandering those places, was what he called 'Crystal Halls' and the secrets that they held: they were a total of five Halls and all with a different crystal colours and Clan Symbol.

The First Hall had glowing crystals the colour of flickering fire- red and gold, orange and vivid yellow- a table directly carved from the back rocks of the walls and the ground with chairs around it and the Uchiha fan, the Original one, painted on their backs and on the surprisingly clean rock ceiling, the statue of the First Clan Head near the most luminescent crystal.

The Second Hall was in the middle of a small underground lake, a few koi fishes swimming around in the pure, clean water, and here the crystals glowed in pale yellow and aqua-blue and scales-green, a round table made of white sand stood in the middle of the Hall with the full Uzumaki spiral sculpted into the sand of the table and even here there was the statue of the First Clan Head- near the entrance this time, but the place glowed with so much light that Obito often forgot that he was underground.

The Third Hall- he hated it as much as he loved it and it _hurt_ \- looked like it was under the ocean, the crystals shimmering with deep colours that made Obito's mind _remember_ , and it was full of sea-blue, purple and white, the light moving like waves and Obito spent all of his time here because his memories where better than his current reality. A table made of seashells stood in the middle with a small formation of crystals shaped into the Hidori (火鳥) Clan Symbol- it looked like a flame that contained a raging ocean, and Obito was the last who knew about this Clan and he _raged_ about the way they had been forgotten- and chairs where made out of seaweed intertwined together. The First Clan Head's statue was replaced by a painting on one of the silver-gray walls and she looked so much like _her_ that Obito could never stop himself from crying.

The Fourth Hall- where he couldn't get in, but he still could see- held the three (four, but he couldn't see...) Clan's Symbols embroidered on banners that were hanging from the ceiling, a square table made of marble in the middle of the room that looked like home, a small river flowing undisturbed on the side with grass and sand and Obito could overlap this place to another one as well….

Then there was a Fifth Hall, but he never saw it- only its door that held a rather familiar Clan Symbol- and he was wary about going in there.

The tunnels were shaped like a spiral- or a spider web. But it didn't matter, he was the only one who knew anyway- and they were connected and stretched outside of Konoha as well, reaching the ocean and Obito _longed_ but then his memory was filled with blood, and screaming and darkness that found himself hating what they'd done but how could he hate them when he loved them more than anything else?

 _Even when they left him the way they did?_

It just made him remember how much he hated being only an Uchiha.

He wished his kaa-san was still alive and that tou-san was ready to teach him more about ancient lands, grandfather and grandma listening with small smiles.

His kaa-san was sad when he told him, tales of an island protected by the ocean- Susanoo-sama was so proud to see his humans and his yokai living in harmony, they'd mated together and hanyo were born in what had been called Uzushiogakure- but Uzushiogakure was Konoha's greatest failure, and Obito always stopped himself from asking.

Nobody wants to remember their failures.

* * *

Rin considered herself to be rather observant for a girl her age, even if she wasn't a prodigy she could see the shift in people surrounding her- especially if they were her teammates.

She noticed how Kakashi-kun looked hollow, how he was even meaner to Obito and he trained even more than before; how he refused to speak to Obito, to touch him or recognise him.

How Obito, while showcasing his big smile that she wasn't sure she should be happy for, never spoke more than necessary, his eye didn't reflect happiness and he looked so, so, _sad…_

Minato-sensei had probably realized it as well, he tried to make the boys talk, to get them to smile and stop hurting but it looked like everything he tried only served to make things _worse._

* * *

"Obito"

"N-Nanami?!"

Obito was, along with Izuna, in the Hidori Hall and did not expect for someone to find him.

Even if by now he should have realized that the little kitsune managed to find him everywhere, he hadn't thought she could've found him down there.

Unless she was an inhabitant of Occulto.

He hadn't thought about that.

" _Shift_."

He watched, with wonder in his eye, as an orange-gold light surrounded Nanami like a shimmering wind and her small body grew, changed shape and stood tall with her head held high.

The light vanished and Obito couldn't help himself to stare, a small blush spreading across his pale face as he looked at the kitsune-turned-girl.

'She's beautiful.'

Nanami swatted away a strand of hip-long, straight blonde hair that she held partially tied in a half tail with the ribbon she had around her neck when in fox form, her bright sky-blue eyes fixated on him and her tanned skin was enhanced by the short, orange kimono she wore, a single fluffy tail and a pair of ears were the only indications that she was _not_ human, at least not completely, whiskers scars-like marks on her cheeks made her look even more feline-like.

He gulped.

She looked at Izuna.

"Hello, Izuna-san. I see that you found your nephew."

 _What_

"What"

Smooth Izuna... His social skills were _terrible_.

She looked back at him, her eyes swirling with the colours of the sky.

"Obito, you don't have to hide. I can't tell you more about who I am, or why I'm here but believe me. You can show _him_. You can show him _everything_ about you. He won't push you away. And you have a Bond with him right? A Bond that you're keeping hidden, from him and from you. You are destroying yourself this way. Stop it. _Family_ will always be there for you."

 _Please_ , went unsaid.

Obito doesn't look at her but his mind has those words on repeat, and it doesn't take much for him to truly _understand_ the implications of her words. About what she isn't saying.

She knows about his heritage.

His real one.

Even when she should _not_ know.

"You know about my real family."

Nanami just smiled and Obito feelt like he could trust her.

* * *

Kakashi was never a social kid, not when his father was alive and after the man died it only got worse, Minato-sensei being the only one who could still get the boy to relax and talk about his problems and not even the blond jonin could succeed everytime.

He couldn't express his emotions, and because of this he ended up bottling them up until the day he couldn't do it anymore and he just _exploded._

On top of that, people- shinobi and civilians alike- expected him to act and be a certain way, especially after his father's failure, and it all reached the point where he didn't know who he was anymore. The situation he had with Obito didn't help things either, as he _was_ worried but he was so used to just be blank that he hadn't know what to do.

Plus, what Obito told him and what he _didn't_ ….Kakashi had noticed something right after he'd stopped crying, about half an hour after Obito had left his hospital room: tied around his left pinky-finger was a thin, almost transparent, red string that followed after wherever Obito went. And Kakashi was dense with those things but he wasn't stupid. That was a Soulmate Bond. And there could be only on person on the other end.

 _Obito was his Soulmate._

 _(He didn't know why this made him feel so happy.)_

* * *

He didn't notice the Bakus following the Thread, sucking it dry of all of its light.

* * *

Obito didn't tell Izuna about his family, even after the ghost's pleas he didn't back down from his decision of not telling and after a while Izuna simply let it go, with the promise that one day Obito will tell him on his own terms. Nanami had reverted back to her kitsune form and was comfortably perched on the boy's shoulder, like a warm shawl, as the trio- Izuna invisible to most- calmly walked through Konoha's crowded streets. Obito had made Nanami promise that she would shift into her human form in time for dinner and that they would eat together, so now they were trying to buy some ingredients for stew.

None of them had expected Kakashi to crash into them- into Obito actually- sending them to fall onto the street.

* * *

Minato considered himself to be a strong shinobi and at least a good sensei. People often went out of their ways to compliment him for his actions, on the front-lines or with his young students, and he appreciated them, he really did, but there was something they all got wrong: that he'd wanted to be a teacher.

He liked Rin, Kakashi and Obito. The three of them were a bright spot in his and Kushina's lives but in the beginning he hadn't been sure about him being a teacher.

He found himself on a similar way of thoughts with Kakashi, both of them were regarded as prodigies in their own rights so it was easy to teach him, Minato had been ecstatic to introduce the boy to Kushina and the woman herself had taken to him like a moth to a flame, mothering him as much as she could without making him uncomfortable.

Then Rin and Obito were added to the mix and Minato had panicked.

He set them to do the bell test, something he himself had done when he was a genin, and the three of them had passed- both to his happiness and despair.

He had gone to ask around to anyone he'd known had had a genin team at some point for training methods and pointers, with the speed of an overprotective father when his child his entering his 'rebellious phase' and didn't know what to do.

It all worked in the end, Kushina loved his students and he could be proud of their accomplishments.

Then Obito was sent to the hospital and they still didn't know how it happened, Inoichi planted the first seeds of doubts and Obito himself remained tight-lipped about the whole ordeal.

Minato might have not wanted to be a sensei, but it didn't mean that he didn't care about his children.

* * *

Kakashi was seated at the table, a plate of steaming stew placed in front of him and Obito shifting on a chair at his right, while Nanami was eyeing the two of them from her place in the cabinet and Izuna was contemplating leaving the awkwardness of the room.

The kitchen was just big enough for five people, which were normally Obito's relatives sitting around the round table- exclusively during meals- but right now it looked empty, void of any kind of resemblance of a home with just the two of them sitting there but to Obito this place was never really _home._ It was his house, the place where he lived, but it wasn't home. His home was a place forgotten by the world, with blood splattered on the walls and the reminders of insanity within them. It was a home where he could go back to with the feeling of safety surrounding him and his parents and his grandparents waiting for him and ready to welcoming him back.

It was a home he was forced to leave.

"...I exaggerated."

"What?"

"At the hospital. I was frustrated and tired and I couldn't sleep so I snapped at you even if it wasn't exactly called for. And for that I'm sorry."

"Obito… I guess I'm sorry as well. I could have been more sensible. And… I could have avoided that argument, and everything else. On a second note, you're really good at drawing."

"...Thanks… I say we put this aside. I bet that Rin-chan and Minato-sensei are worried about us and I would like to avoid that."

"I agree. So, no hard feelings?"

"No hard feelings."

* * *

"Goodnight Obito! I'm going back to the Halls!"

"'Night Izuna! See you tomorrow."

"Sleep well Obito."

"You too, Nanami."

Only when he was sure that the ghost had left and the kitsune was asleep did he make another request.

" _Baku-san, please come and eat my dreams._ "

His eyes were closed before he could see the dozens of glowing eyes looking at him in the darkness of his room.


	5. AUTOR'S NOTE

p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"So I basically realized that this story doesn't really fit with the AU as I currently developed it./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"I'm not saying I'm going to delete this story, but I'm not going to continue it either. As things are right now, for this story to actually fit with the AU, I'd need to do some MAJOR EDITING in every. Single. Chapter./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"Maybe I'll nevere continue this, maybe I will. I don't know. But right now I just can't write another chapter for this./p  
p style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"If you wish, I can post what I already wrote for chapter 5 but know that this story is, from now, on Hiatus./p 


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